Pajama Boy approved: Half of high schools do away with class rankings ‘so as not to destroy teens’ confidence’

From Daily Mail: At many American high schools, the graduation-day tradition of crowning a valedictorian is becoming a thing of the past. The ranking of students from No. 1 on down, based on grade-point averages, has been fading steadily for about the past decade.

In its place are honors that recognize everyone who scores at a certain threshold – using Latin honors, for example. This year, one school in Tennessee had 48 valedictorians.

About half of schools no longer report class rank, according to the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Administrators worry about the college prospects of students separated by large differences in class rank despite small differences in their GPAs, and view rankings as obsolete in an era of high expectations for every student, association spokesman Bob Farrace said.

There are also concerns about intense, potentially unhealthy competition and students letting worries about rank drive their course selections.

Among those weighing a change is Lancaster High School in suburban Buffalo, where students are leading an exploration of replacing valedictorian-salutatorian recognitions with the college-style Latin honors of summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude.

The principal, Cesar Marchioli, said he’s neutral on the issue, though he feels for the 11th-ranked student who falls just short of the recognition awarded to the top 10 seniors honored at the annual banquet.

Graduating Lancaster senior Connor Carrow, 17, has pressed for the switch to Latin honors since his sophomore year, well before landing just out of the top 10, at No. 14, while serving as student union president and playing varsity lacrosse and hockey.

He said it’s a better fit with the school’s collaborative and cooperative ideals. ‘You’re striving for that (honor) personally, but you’re not hoping that you’re better than these other 400 people next to you,’ said Carrow.

The view was somewhat different from the No. 1 spot occupied by Carrow’s classmate Daniel Buscaglia, who also played saxophone in several performance ensembles and volunteered in his town’s youth bureau.

While he doesn’t oppose the change, Buscaglia expects the competition in high school, although it was mostly friendly, will help him at Cornell University in the fall.

Elsewhere, commenters have peppered news websites with disparaging comparisons to giving ‘participation trophies’ to avoid hurt feelings, while supporters point out the often statistically insignificant differences that separate students.

Rankings still play an important part in aspects of the college admissions process. There are scholarships for the top-ranked students, and the number of top students at colleges is factored into college rankings.

Class ranks are also credited with improving diversity at the University of Texas, where a law guaranteed that a school’s top 10 percent would be accepted into a public university.

Colleges are adjusting to the increasing number of applications arriving without class rank, though many applications still ask for it if available.

Even so, students’ individual grades and the rigor of the curriculum they chose tend to weigh more heavily, said Melanie Gottlieb, deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. ‘More and more schools are moving toward a more holistic process. They look deeper into the transcript,’ Gottlieb said.

Wisconsin’s Elmbrook School District has for several years ranked only the valedictorian and salutatorian, and only then because the state awards scholarships to schools’ top two graduates, according to Assistant Superintendent Dana Monogue.

The change has been accepted by colleges and community alike, Monogue said. ‘We are encouraged by any movement that helps students understand that they’re more than a score, that they’re more than a rank,’ she said.

Tennessee’s Rutherford County schools give the valedictorian title to every student who meets requirements that include a 4.0 grade-point average and at least 12 honors courses. Its highly ranked Central Magnet School had 48 valedictorians this year, about a quarter of its graduating class.

The day rankings came out at Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland, students were privately told their number – but things didn’t stay private for long. ‘That was the only thing everyone was talking about,’ said Mikey Peterson, 18, who shrugged off his bottom-third finish and will attend West Virginia University in the fall.

A spokesman for the Howard County, Maryland, district said schools recognize their top 5 percent so students can include it on college applications and hasn’t considered changing.

‘There was a big emphasis on where you landed,’ said Peterson’s classmate Vicki Howard, 18. ‘It made everything 10 times more competitive.’

Peterson’s mother, Elizabeth Goshorn, said she can’t walk into his school without hearing good things about her affable son, but worries about how rankings can affect a teenager’s confidence. ‘It has such an impact on them as to how they perceive themselves if you’re putting rankings on them,’ she said.

24 responses to “Pajama Boy approved: Half of high schools do away with class rankings ‘so as not to destroy teens’ confidence’”

That’s the way to do it. Destroy and goals for ALL students to try to reach. Why not just do away with schools all together and when a kid reaches 18 yrs old just mail him/her a diploma that says they graduated with “HONORS” no-less! They make it seem they want everybody on even terms, but there will always be the elite and the servant’s/ workers. In the new way everyone will have the same low salary, except for the elite. There will not be a way to better yourself. They can and will outlaw personal vehicles, personal homes etc. You will never be able to get ahead because you will be renting from the elite, buying your food from the elite and in the end-run always be working for the elite. Even in communist countries or dictatorships the same hierarchy exist. It always has and always will. remember the old saying, ” Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!” You start the take over at the school level.

“They can and will outlaw personal vehicles, personal homes etc. You will never be able to get ahead because you will be renting from the elite, buying your food from the elite and in the end-run always be working for the elite. ”
Of COURSE-Exceptionalism,which is what makes GREAT things happen,has no place in a SOCIALIST Environment.

This just makes me sad. I remember how hard I worked to earn Principal’s List and Top 100 in high school. Sometimes I made it, sometimes I didn’t and would have to try harder the next semester. By attempting to remove all painful emotions like failure, they are removing the possibility of these kids taking real pride in their accomplishments. By eliminating competition, they are eliminating a major driving force of humanity.

Oh we don’t want to hurt the snowflakes self esteem so instead we destroy our children’s drive to succeed. If the kids do the work they should get the credit and it some are just not smart enough or driven enough to do well then let them pay the consequences. As in economics competition is a good thing. So instead we teach our kids not to strive for greatness because you will get the same out of life as the bum that does nothing. That is the Communist way of doing things. Social Justice=equal outcomes instead of equal opportunity. Get you kids out of the system before they destroy all of them.

And it’s NOT the end of the world if a student doesn’t excel in school;often kids don’t actually “get it” until after High School,when they finally decide they’ve HAD IT with being second stringers,and really apply themselves,in College,or in the next job they get,or in starting their OWN business. Or when they join the Military…..SOME take even longer to get their competitive selves to kick in. Of course,Liberals operate from a different flight plan….

If they have no goals to aim for, what do they Have? We had rankings when I was in school and it scarred no one.
By not having the students earn their place in life, they will never survive in the real world. These schools and their poor leadership are doing them no favors.
All this does is build resentment among the students, those that worked their tails off will be awarded the same as those that refused to work hard.
No incentive no true winners.

School is supposed to prepare kids for life,for winning and for losing. Pampering kids produces persons who are unable to deal with the inevitable losses they wll encounter in life. It produces persons with a false, undeserved sense of achievement that will be brutally corrected sooner or later.
Furthermore, who wants to play a game where everyone’s a winner?